Striped and spotted skunks, red foxes, raccoons, coyotes, opossums, great-horned owls, red-tailed hawks and a ferruginous hawk were fed carcasses of rabid animals to determine whether ingested virus can cause infection. No animals became clinically rabid but virus was recovered and/or immune reactions occurred with some animals. Scavenger birds were studied as potential sentinels of sylvatic rabies. In field studies, 6% of captured crows had seroconverted to the virus, as had 2% of the starlings, but rabies virus was not identified in any of the birds. Laboratory infections of crows, by feeding them either whole carcasses or brains from rabid mice resulted in infection of six of nine birds, as indicated by re-isolation of virus. Five of the nine crows seroconverted. A field study was carried out in six defined areas of central Iowa to determine the amount of interaction between coyotes and skunks, in order to predict the threat the prey species may impose in establishing rabies in the predator species. Populations, locations, and activities of the two species were observed. The diet of the coyotes was determined from analysis of droppings and of stomach contents.